Raw/wet question

Hello everyone,

I have a question about feeding raw and wet at the same time. Here is my situation: we have 4 cats, 2 adults and 2 almost adults (old kittens), one of the kittens has had some MAJOR stomach issues since we have had him (5 months, long story short,I have found that he does so much better on a raw diet, therefore, I decided to switch everyone to raw. Here is my problem. With 4 cats eating raw, it is becoming very expensive. I buy a locally made raw diet and for their biggest tub, 24 oz, it is about $11.00. We will go thru that tub in about one day, or two feedings. Everyone gets 1/3 cup twice a day, as per the instructions. So here is my question: is it o.k to give raw and wet at the same time? I obviously want to do what is best for everyone but to spend about $10.00 per day on cat food seems very expensive to me. I was thinking about wet in the morning (Wellness chicken (grain free)) and raw at night. I think I might keep Simon on an all raw diet since he was the one having issues, but for everyone else, I was thinking wet and raw. Any ideas??

Thanks!

raw and wet can be done ... do to different digestion rates feeding one in the morning and one at night would be best...
http://www.columbiarivernaturalpetfoods.com/

great raw at good prices made in WA

raw and canned will digest at different rates so just don't give them both at one feeding. I would give about 6-8 hours between feedings just to be on the safe side and make sure you wash their bowls throughly with hot soapy water after they eat the raw meals!

diy can be very cheap.

before i tell you the easiest approach, a bit more info on you cats and your lifestyle would help.

where do you feed your cats?
is the current raw food ground up?
do you cats like the raw enough to chew?
what is your freezer like? how much space can you spare?

if mess and freezer space are not issues, the just feem them whole quail or other small birds, preferably with skin, head etc still on. whole small birds are very palatable and even our reluctant raw feeders love them. but theu can be messy if you cats drag them around the house. also take up quite a bit of freezer space.

if a ground up version is your preference, consider buying a grinder and doing it at home. there are lots of recipes online and you'll probably have to adjust to suit your cats requirements but it's worth the effort.

there are lots of ways of feeding raw and it just takes a bit more effort and planning but the benefits far surpass the trouble.

In my experience it cost less to feed raw exclusively to my two cats than to feed raw and canned together (or canned on it's own). Of course this all depends on the price of the raw, and the price and quality of the canned food.

Making the raw yourself would make things MUCH more economical for you. I'd look into it if I were in your shoes!

I must be the only one where buying premade is cheaper... see I can get 5lbs of chn with organs bone and veggies for 9 $ .... just chn meat at ave of 2 $pr lb that is 10 not including the organs...

Originally Posted by sharky

I must be the only one where buying premade is cheaper... see I can get 5lbs of chn with organs bone and veggies for 9 $ .... just chn meat at ave of 2 $pr lb that is 10 not including the organs...

Click to expand...

nope, it's here too. I fed my dogs raw meats and stuff that I got from the butcher and from hunter friends. Even with the generous donations of meat from the hunters I was still spending quite a bit from the butcher to feed my two. I can get the premade stuff though and it comes out to quite a bit cheaper not to mention I don't have to drive half an hour to pick up the food every month! I have put my dogs now on a half kibble half raw diet and they are doing excellent and it comes out to about the same as feeding the premade raw but I like them having kibble as well.

My boys get wet food at breakfast and raw for supper. It's been working well. I find that by making the raw food myself, it's a lot of work, but the cost is roughly comparable to premium wet food. (not counting my time as worth anything, of course.)

Originally Posted by sharky

raw and wet can be done ... do to different digestion rates feeding one in the morning and one at night would be best...
http://www.columbiarivernaturalpetfoods.com/

great raw at good prices made in WA

Click to expand...

Sharky-

Thank you for the link,I did some reaserch on this company and I noticed they arn't certified by AAFCO as a complete diet, does that mean I have to add any supplements to the raw? If so what kind??

NO raw food to this pt .. has been AFFCO approved .. One company is going thru trials now to get the AFFCO staement... I pmed you the basics of "complete"